How come School buses dont have seatbelts?

Question

I was in a school bus recently and a lot of the kids were moving around when the bus turned but a lot of kids fell off their seats and why isn't it a law yet?

Answer 1

they do have seat belts and you are supposed to but the kids usually just choose not to and they're usually just too much to handle with one driver

Answer 2

Good question.

They should have them.

(Maybe in case there's an emergency and kids have to get out quickly and the buckles might stop them/slow them down? I dunno.)

Answer 3

Good question, I've often wondered that myself, but I think if they did have seatbelts, kids would somehow find a way to cut them out or maybe they don't do it because the bus driver would have to walk back there every stop to make sure they all had them on. Not sure, but it definitely needs to be a law!

Answer 4

There are a few reasons:

A) School buses have proven a safe mode of transportation for the most part - very few of them are involved in collisions when you compare to cars, suv's, big-rigs, etc.

B) There hasn't been any studies that show that lack of seatbelts reduce injury or deaths in school bus related accidents. In fact, usually every year less than a dozen students actually die in a school bus accident. That's out of millions of kids who ride the school bus everyday.  

C) School bus seats are designed with safety in mind. School bus seats are pretty tall, so in the event of a collision, your impact will be into the seat, which is cushioned for the most part.

D) It's not cost effective, i imagine to install seat belts in all of America's school buses would require at least $400 million in tax payer money. That money is better used on other things towards education.

E) In the event of an overturn of the school bus, a seat belt may injure a child, especially a small child. You don't want a child hanging by a seat belt upside down during an over turn

.

F) Buses are designed so that in the event of an accident, students can escape quickly and get out of danger. Seat belts would hinder that process, and even possibily trap some students. In the event of a fire on the bus, the last thing you want is that.

So to answer your question, those are some of the reasons why buses probably don't have seat belts. School buses continue to be very safe modes of transportation for children.

Answer 5

$$$$$$$$$$$

Answer 6

people are idiots

:P

Answer 7

Some school buses do.

Though in general it's completly pointless, because children won't use them. They use them to attack each other, and you'd be amazed how many ways you can hurt someone with a seatbelt. So they offend health and safety, and they just don't use them enough to put them in.

Answer 8

I'm not sure.

However, when the companies manufacture (sp?) buses, the correct way to sit in a seat if face foward, with your back against the seat and your feet on the floor. (never in my 10 years of riding the bus to school have i actually listened to that rule...) The seat in front of it serves as a "shield". When the bus stops short, or there is a crash, you are supposed to be stopped by the back of the seat in front of you. The kids shouldn't be falling out of their seats, because typically the rules are to sit face foward with your feet on the floor and back against the seat...

but you would think bus manufactures (again, sp?) would think that no one really abides to that rule, right? hahah

good question.

i hope my answer explains it

<3 taylor

Answer 9

For the same reason cars didn't have seatbelts for many decades, it wasn't required by law and people (for the most part) didn't want them. When buying a car most people are looking for as low a price as possible. The more extra's on a vehicle the more expensive it gets. Today, to retrofit all school buses with seatbelts would cost a lot of money. School districts all over the country have demonstrated their inability to wisely spend the money they currently have allotted to them, you know they would scream bloody murder if the government mandated seat belts in all school buses. School districts get their operating cash from taxes. I don't know about you but I don't want my property taxes to rise. Millions of kids have survived the trip to school and back on a bus minus seatbelts over the years, something tells me millions more in the future will too.